Democratic nominee Joe Biden maintains a strong national lead over President Trump, according to a new poll conducted before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
At the end of a tumultuous summer, defined by climbing coronavirus numbers, civil unrest across the country, and calls for racial justice, Biden came out ahead by 8 points among registered voters, leading 51% to Trump’s 43%, in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released on Sunday.
The poll also found more than 50% of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance. The president did have an advantage over Biden on issues related to the economy, while Biden led on the coronavirus pandemic.
“So far, despite major upheavals in the country, little has changed,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, whose firm conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
The poll also found 11% of voters are undecided, a greater number than Biden’s lead over Trump.
Those whose votes are up for grabs have mostly negative views of both Trump and Biden. Of the 11% of voters, 27% said Trump is their preference compared to 20% who prefer Biden. An additional 27% said they would prefer neither, and 24% said they weren’t sure.
“This does not look like a group that Trump can run the table with, which he needs to do in order to change the race,” Horwitt said.
Approval ratings for both Trump and Biden, overall, also improved.
Forty-five percent of voters approved of Trump’s job performance, which jumped from 42% in July and 44% in August. Biden’s favorability also increased from 39% positive to 43% positive.
The poll was conducted Sept. 13-16 of 1,000 registered voters, before Ginsburg died at the age of 87 on Friday, which opened up a new front in the election fight related to filling the vacancy on the high court. Of those who participated in the survey, more than half were contacted by cell phone. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
